For those that depend on their smartphones (which is most of us), one of the biggest issues that comes up time and again is battery life. While the obvious answer is to use the phone less, this defeats the purpose of having a multi-tasking gadget that was meant to be used on the go. As an alternative, everyone should take a look at which battery guzzling apps, and settings within these apps, could be killing your battery life.
The first place to look at what is eating into your battery life is graphics and media-intensive apps. This could include anything from news and weather programs to chatting apps, but the primary culprit is games. Unfortunately, most mobile games do not have many options when it comes to easing the amount of energy that they require. There are a handful that do allow users to lower the graphic requirements, but the best solution is to wait to play until you have immediate access to a charger.
Widgets can be one of the worst offenders when it comes to battery guzzling apps. These programs are displayed directly on the home screen of your smartphone to constantly display updated information. From social media feeds to the local weather, these apps require constant use of the phone's processor and data plan. While some widgets can be extremely helpful, using a half dozen may result in a phone that cannot hold a charge for more than a few hours at a time.
One of the final places to look for battery guzzling apps is any program that uses one of the primary hardware components of the smartphone. This could be anything from the GPS to a high-definition camera, and these will often drain the battery quicker than any other app. One of the biggest problems is not only the use of these features, but users who forget to turn them off after being used. They may stay on for hours or even days, perplexing users as to why their phone continues to die.
So before downloading an app, take a careful look at the app ratings to see if other users have identified issues with power drain. And consider which hardware components of the phone the program will control and the potential battery implications.
